Cardiac leads are implanted in the RA, RV, epicardium, and coronary veins to treat patients with inter alia arrhythmias and patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). In certain circumstances, the lead needs to be removed such as when a lead is inoperative, becomes infected, or if the lead is no longer necessary. Removal of the chronically implanted lead can be difficult and result in trauma to the myocardium tissue or the cardiovascular system.
To implant the leads, a delivery system such as a catheter or guidewire is used. However, often it is difficult to discern the location of the lead within the patient, or determine where the lead is relative to certain locations in the heart. This leads to longer implant procedures, particularly those which require positioning of the cardiac lead within tortuous vasculature.
Other implant procedures include subcutaneous lead tunneling, such as for an epicardial pacing lead implantation, or for implanting a lead/electrode for nerve and muscle stimulation. However, lead tunneling can result in trauma to surrounding tissue if excessive force is placed on the device.
Accordingly, what is needed is a method and apparatus for minimizing trauma during the implant and explantation of cardiac leads.